State championship dreams remain alive for nine Star Courier-area athletes after Thursday’s prelims at the Class 1A girls state track and field meet.

Freya Block of Kewanee and Sara Fisher of Annawan-Wethersfield advanced to Saturday’s finals in two events. Block qualified in both the shot put and discus, while Fisher earned the final qualifying berths in both the 100 and 300 hurdles.

Also punching their tickets to the finals Saturday at Eastern Illinois University were Karissa Roman of Annawan-Wethersfield in the high jump, Megan Reed of Ridgewood in the triple jump, Samantha Roth of Stark County in the triple jump; Molly Smith of Ridgewood in the 300 hurdles, Jasmine Jefko of Ridgewood in the shot put and Lindsey Hoffert of Bureau Valley in the long jump.

The 3200 will be contested Saturday at O’Brien Stadium, and Regan Weidner of Bureau Valley is part of that field.

Block enters the finals in second place in both the shot put and discus. She started the day with a career-best and school record throw of 40-4 3/4 in the shot put, and followed in the discus with a toss of 121-6.

In the shot Block trails Megan Lauzon of Rushville Industry (40-9) and in the discus she trails Genny Rose Stringer of Moweaqua Central A&M (133-7).

“I’ve been feeling good so I kind of knew I was going to do it,” said Block of her career-best throw in the shot. “I’m just happy to be here. I just have to do what I did today a little bit better Saturday.”

Fisher will add two more medals to her career total Saturday — she entered this year’s meet with seven state medals — the only question remains what place will be engraved on them.

The A-W senior nailed down the ninth and final slots in the both the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She ran the 100 hurdles in 16.18 seconds to finish third in her heat, and ran the 300 hurdles in 46.74 seconds for another third-place finish in her heat.

“It’s a nice day and I’m feeling good,” said Fisher just after completing the 100 hurdle prelims.

At that point, she wasn’t sure if her season-best time was good enough to qualify for the finals.

“I just want to make finals and I hope that time does it,” said Fisher. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

The time turned out to be just enough, and then she added another trip to the finals in the 300 hurdles.

Fisher will be joined in the 300 hurdle finals by Ridgewood senior Molly Smith. She won her heat in a time of 46.71 seconds. Smith finished third at state last year in the 300 hurdles, and Fisher was next in fourth place.

Page 2 of 2 - Also advancing to the finals for the A-W Lady Titans was sophomore high jumper Karissa Roman. She was among 15 jumpers to clear 5-2 and move on to Saturday’s competition.

Thursday’s effort was a nice bit of redemption for Roman, who struggled at state her freshman season and failed to clear 5-2 and finished second in the Erie Sectional last week.

“I just couldn’t focus too much because then I would be overwhelmed and starting to freak out,” said Roman. “I just wanted to appreciate it and have fun because I know not very many people get this opportunity and I wanted to make the best of it.”

“I just want to have the same mindset I had today (Thursday),” added Roman of Saturday’s finals. “Today felt really good for me, so I just want to keep it there.”

Ridgewood freshman Megan Reed sits in second place in the triple jump with an effort of 36-7 3/4. She trails only Paige Rus of Erie-Prophetstown (36-9 1/2) heading into the finals.

Stark County senior Samantha Roth also advanced to the finals in the triple jump with a leap of 33-2 3/4, which puts her in 11th-place.

Jasmine Jefko of Ridgewood enters Saturday’s finals in the shot put in sixth place with a throw of 37-9 1/4 in the prelims.

Lindsey Hoffert of Bureau Valley moved into the finals of the long jump for the second straight year. The Storm sophomore, who finished second in the event last year, heads to the finals in fourth place with a leap of 16-11 3/4.

Missing the finals

Athletes missing out on the finals Thursday were Morgan Mahnesmith (9-6) and Lindsey Brown (9-0) of Annawan-Wethersfield in the pole vault; Becca Medley of Annawan-Wethersfield in the 100 hurdles (17.23 seconds); Olivia Draminski of Annawan-Wethersfield in the 800 (2:30.44); Samantha Roth of Stark County 400 (1:02.29); Megan Reed of Ridgewood in the 400 (1:00.85); Molly Smith of Ridgewood in the 100 (13.10 seconds) and 200 (27.16 seconds); Stark County’s 4x400 relay (Roth, Shania Kraklow, Brandi McGava and Corinna Wyant) with a time of 4:25.03; Lindsey Hoffert of Bureau Valley in the 200 (27.34 seconds; and Sydney Lebahn of Bureau Valley in the discus (107-10).

Saturday’s finals

The finals for all three classes begin at 10 a.m. Saturday starting with the 3200, shot put, pole vault and high jump.